THE LAKELAND of LANCASHIRE. No. III. the Two CONISTONS
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THE LAKELAND OF LANCASHIRE. No. III. THE Two CONISTONS. By A. Craiff Gibson, F.S.4. (READ 1st NOVEMBER, 1866.) THE Lake of Coniston, anciently called Thurstnn Water, stands third amongst the lakes of England, and first amongst those of Lancashire, in point of magnitude. In length it extends about six miles north and south, and its breadth rarely exceeds half-a-mile : it is, therefore, more river-like in form than even its sister-water, which some one apostrophizes as " Wooded Winandermere, the river-lake." The depth of Coniston Water is stated by recent authorities to be 160 feet; but a chart in my possession, made from actual survey by a resident upon its banks, gives 40 fathoms or 240 feet as its greatest depth. It is many years, however, since this survey was made, and it is quite possible that the enormous masses of fine sand that have been brought down by the stream from the ore-dressing works at the copper mines, and partly thrown up in huge banks upon its western shore near the mouth of the stream but, probably, much more extensively deposited in the bed of the lake, have so reduced its depth as to make the lesser figures the more correct; otherwise, Coniston would be as deep as Windermere and surpassed in depth only by Wastwaler. Its fish are chiefly perch and pike, which abound. Formerly its char, said to be the finest in the world, were equally abundant, but now that rare and valuable fish has become almost, if not entirely, 112 extinct in its waters. Various causes have been assigned for this unfortunate disappearance. Some have ascribed it to wasteful and unseasonable " drawing" of the breeding grounds with nets, long practised by the lessees of the fishery ; others, to the pike, which increased largely in numbers and voracity during the time that the char was declining. Others, again, have attributed it to the spawn on the breeding banks having been overlaid and buried, year after year, by the washed down sand already noticed ; and, lastly, some say that the fish have been poisoned by the minerals held in solution by the water from the mines. It is very probable that all these causes have combined to rob Coniston of its most famous and most important fish ; but whatever the cause may be, the result is equally apparent and deplorable. Trout, also, was formerly plentiful; but it too hns all but disappeared. Within my recollection solitary fish of this species have been taken, from time to time, of great size (one weighing fourteen pounds) and possessing a flavour and firmness superior even to those of the char itself; but no young or breeding specimens of trout or char have been found for many years. At its lower extremity Coniston Water is said to be tame ; and one of the writers happily few who have essayed the facetious in describing the lakes says, " Like most of her " sisters, she is plain about the feet." In so far as the adjacent heights are of much inferior elevation and the whole scenery less strikingly varied at the foot than at the head of the lake, it must he admitted that the Water-foot is compara tively tame and plain ; but in any other vicinity with almost any other standard whereby to judge it it would be thought anything rather than tame. The river Crake, issuing from the extreme foot of the lake, runs its lively five-mile course to Morecambe Bay, with a fall of about twenty-eight feet to the mile, through one of the prettiest pastoral valleys in the kingdom ; and where it leaves 1.18 the lake, the coppice-clad heights of Nibthwaite, the hamlet on its eastern side, -and the green meadows and fields, with the scattered homesteads, the hrown hills and grey rocks of the little chapelry of Blawith on the west, form a scene that in any other part of England would he thought exceedingly diversified and beautiful. The names of these two places suggest that the derivations of the local nomenclature here about are equally various as are the beauties of the scenery. Nibthwaite "the clearing on the headland" is Norse. Blawith " the lair of the wolf" is Celtic ; while the parishes of which they form parts Colton and Ulverston and the lake they adjoin Coniston are compounds of Celtic, Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon. The port of Nibthwaite, with its miniature docks and piers, was formerly a spot of some little bustle and liveliness, from being the place of discharge, on their way to Ulverston, for the mineral products of the Coniston hills, which, with quan tities of small timber, were brought down the hike in large boats. The trade of Nibthwaite, however, like that of many more important emporia, has been annihilated by the forma tion of a railway, and the Lake-foot now lies in a state of almost primeval quietude, broken only by an occasional plea sure boat, or the steam gondola on her daily voyages during the months of summer. A visitor, wishing to see Coniston to advantage on his approach to it, may hardly do better than take a passage up the lake in this screw-propelled gondola, so styled. His attention would probably be first attracted by the fine wooded promontory on which stands the pretty house called Water- park, and which, until it is doubled by the steamer, seems to landlock the water below it. On the opposite shore the western the scenery consists of successive but irregular and often precipitous ranges of rock or crag, grey with lichen or green with ivy, and separated by intervals of purple heath I 114 and green hracken beds or greener pasture-lands. Beyond these it is broken up into dark, craggy knolls, rising into hills of the same character, pre-eminent amongst which is one bold cone hearing the name of the Beacon Hill a name suggestive of the times when, as Macaulay sings, " Skiddaw saw the fire that burn'd on Gaunt's embattled pile, " And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle." There can be little doubt but these beacon fires were used at, as well as before and after the date of the event upon which the poet-historian made the fine ballad I have quoted from ; but, without disputing his general accuracy, we must remark that the interposition of some of the highest ground in Eng land between Skiddaw and Lancaster would necessitate the use of some intermediate stations like this of Blawith, from which the town and castle of John o' Gaunt are distinctly visible, though more than twenty miles away. The next prominent object is a bold rocky island which rises steeply from the water and is called Peel Island or Montague Island ; but by the country people, following out their custom, already remarked upon, of bestowing on natural objects the names of some homely implement, utensil or garment, suggested by their form, this island is called " the " Gridiron." It may he said to be the only island Coniston possesses, for that named " the Fir Island," about half-way up the lake, is so near the eastern strand as to be peninsular, except in -wet weather ; and a floating island which this water also boasts, is so apt to ground on the shore and remain there till an unusual rise of the lake concurs with a favourable wind to set it afloat again, that it can scarcely be called an island, floating or stationary. When it is afloat and drifting about the lake, however, it must be a pleasing object, being some twenty yards across and covered with young timber. But few have seen it under those circumstances. 115 Above the Gridiron, and on the western side, the lake receives a small stream called in old charters " the Black " Beck of Torver." It drains the primitive little chnpelry from which it has its name. The most interesting circum stance connected with Torver is that the faculty for interments in the burial ground of its humble chapel bears the signature Belfry Tower and Porch of Torver old Church. of Cranmer. The little church, which was rebuilt about twenty years ago, was, previous to that time, a good specimen of the old chapels in the dales. The deed referred to implies IS 116 that other church rites had heen performed there loug before its date. In the petition for this deed, " ob juga monlium " interposita," is the reason assigned by the parishioners for asking to be allowed to bury at home, instead of carrying their dead to the mother-church at Ulverston. Near the embouchure of Torver Beck are seen a large bobbin mill, a very pretty farm and, up the hillside at some distance from the farm, a small lonely-looking building, which is a Baptist chapel one of the many places of worship belonging to that body of dissenters that lie scattered over this district, generally in situations remote and secluded as this. It has been said of these meeting-houses that they were so located to avoid interruption of worship and to escape persecution. For more than a mile here the lake on either shore possesses little scenic and no historic interest; but after passing the loug height called Torver Common we find under its northern shoulder several farms in picturesque situations. One of these called Brackenbarrow occupies the place of the ancient seat of a family, long extinct, of the same name. The ad joining beautiful estate of Hawthwaite and other lands in " Torferghe," " with reasonable ingress and egress from Lid- " chate of Braekenbergh.